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by diminishedmercury



Series: SNBM & RRYN AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Merc and Weiss are best friends, Merc still has illegal habits, Mercury is Good, Origin Story, SNBM AU, Weiss is a Useless Lesbian, pre-relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 19:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20953910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diminishedmercury/pseuds/diminishedmercury
Summary: “Weiss,” Her father says. She looks over at Jacques.“Yes, Papa?”“This is Mercury,” He puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “He will protect you from now on. His father Marcus is a good friend of mine. Last night will not happen again.” She nods hesitantly, her blue eyes flicking back to the boy. He waves a hand at her down by his waist and she smiles timidly at him. She doesn’t know who can be her friend anymore. “Now Weiss- Last night never happened. Do you understand me?”





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**Author's Note:**

> Team NWBB (nub: e.g. a nub of gold) is comprised of team leader Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Mercury Black.  
Team RRYN (ren) is comprised of team leader Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Nora Valkyrie.  
Letters for the team names come from both first names and surnames.
> 
> If you have any ideas for a team name that's better than "NWBB" let me know. Took me and my friend a long time of looking to find something that would work for these four.  
EDIT: we found a better team name! NWBB is now known as team SNBM (sunbeam)!
> 
> Relationships found in this AU are:  
Achilles' Heel (Mercury/Pyrrha)  
Monochrome (Blake/Weiss)  
Lotus Petals (Ren/Ruby)  
Solar Flare (Sun/Yang)

They weren’t older than ten when they met. Weiss doesn’t remember much of what had happened, but the maid she’d made friends with lay dead on the floor of her bedroom and her screams echoed throughout the manor. She’s shaking and afraid, a knife still gripped firmly in the maid’s hand, as Winter rushes into the room and takes in the scene as best she can in the darkened bedroom. A glowing white glyph fades away into nothingness and Winter scoops her up into her arms and carries her away from the carnage as more guards enter the room behind them. She hides her face in her sister’s neck and cries, clinging tightly to her.

She killed her. She was young, but she knows that she killed that maid and that the maid had tried to kill her. She doesn’t understand. Her family had always treated her well, she played with her… she doesn’t know why the faunus hate her so much. Her father is speaking with her sister now, but she’s not listening. She can’t get the vision of dark red blood pooling beneath a cold body. Her friend…

“This cannot happen again, Father. What if she hadn’t unlocked her aura?” She’s the desperation in Winter’s voice and it confuses her. She doesn’t know what aura really is or what she’d done. Jacques looks serious and she’s always hated that look on his face. It meant she was in trouble. It meant that she would be punished.

There’s a long breath that exits her father’s nostrils before he nods, albeit unwillingly. “You’re right. I know of someone who can protect her. An… associate’s son is skilled already. It would be best to ask him to protect her.” Winter looks skeptical, but she just wants to go to bed. She’s scared and tired. She doesn’t want to think about her friend anymore.

“Winter…” She whimpers, still held by her sister, and she’s cooed gently to be quiet.

“We’ll speak more later. I’ll take care of Weiss.” They leave the room after that and she spends the night in Winter’s room that night.

In the morning, she wakes up to her father knocking on Winter’s door. She’s tired and still confused, but she follows her father and Winter out of the room after being dressed by her sister. She holds Winter’s hand and doesn’t really pay attention to what either of them are talking about in a hushed tone, but she knows it has to be about last night. She doesn’t want to remember it. She doesn’t want to remember Alice bleeding on the ground. But she does.

She’s sitting in a chair in her father’s office when she comes back to herself and realizes that she’s not alone with her family. There’s a man and a young boy standing in front of her father’s desk and she doesn’t recognize either one of them. The boy looks a little bit older than her. Maybe a year or two older, but not by much. He’s short, but he stands with his back straight, his hair sort of spiked up with bangs framing his face. It’s his eyes that scare her- gunmetal grey with a sad tinge to them. She’s never seen someone look so sad without saying anything before.

“Weiss,” Her father says. She looks over at Jacques.

“Yes, Papa?”

“This is Mercury,” He puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “He will protect you from now on. His father Marcus is a good friend of mine. Last night will _not _happen again.” She nods hesitantly, her blue eyes flicking back to the boy. He waves a hand at her down by his waist and she smiles timidly at him. She doesn’t know who can be her friend anymore. “Now Weiss- Last night _never happened_. Do you understand me?”

She’s quiet, but she nods. He looks satisfied with that.

* * *

Mercury becomes her closest friend after that. She knows that he’s only there because her father is paying his good money, but she actually likes him as irritating as he can be. She finds out that he’s actually two years older than her and she can’t help but to think that he’s small for a twelve-year-old. He comes to live with her and her family. She’s moved into a room that has a small servant’s quarters connected to it that he calls his own room.

“Do you miss your dad?” She asks one day, reading over some sheet music as she presses keys on her piano.

“Not really,” He shrugs, sitting next to her. He doesn’t understand the meaning of the notes on the paper. She’s never bothered to ask if he wants to learn.

She frowns at his answer. “Why not?”

“… Ask me again later.” It’s her turn to shrug now, but she can’t shrug away the feeling of great sorrow that exudes from his body after that.

She learns he can’t read or write about a month after that. It’s been three since he became her bodyguard. She thinks that’s inexcusable- how is ever going to read a book to study? So, she sets aside some of her play time to teach him. She doesn’t really understand the relationship Mercury has with his father, but she knows that somehow Marcus is responsible for Mercury’s inability to read. She hates Marcus and she doesn’t really know why other than he’s not a good person. She gets nervous when he’s in the manor, but usually her and Mercury will just hide away in the library until he’s gone. Marcus doesn’t even bother trying to see his son and it doesn’t sit well with Weiss.

* * *

When Weiss decides she wants to go to Beacon, Mercury is right there at her side. “You know, I can take care of myself,” She rolls her eyes as she watches him pack his things. He has considerably less luggage than she does.

“No, you can’t,” He snorts dismissively as he folds a shirt and puts it into the open suitcase. She’s secretly pleased that he actually has use for it though- she’d bought it for him for his fourteenth birthday and it really hasn’t seen much use. He usually just brings a backpack when they go on trips (which are few and far between).

“I will ignore that and pretend it was never said.”

“Uh-huh,” He’s sarcastic in his tone.

“… Do your legs hurt today?” She asks as she sits down on his bed, looking at the cool metal. She knows how to take care of them. She’d demanded he teach her how to maintain them after she’d learned about them when they were eleven and thirteen. He shakes his head, but she knows he’s lying. It’s cold today and the cold always causes him to ache. “Okay.” She goes quiet and simply watches him move around the room. It’s the same one he’s had since he first moved in seven years ago. She wishes her father would let her give him a bigger room, despite the fact that she doesn’t mind having him close by. He deserves better than what amounts to a closet for her.

“Tomorrow, right?” She nods, reaching over and pulling the bear that looks like her into her lap. She’d also given him that on one of his birthdays and she still doesn’t know if he even likes it. She does, though, and she has one that looks like him on her bed.

“I’m glad you’re coming, Mercury. Don’t think I’m ungrateful,” a moment of rare vulnerability, but this is Mercury. He’s the only person she can be open with in this house- or, that’s what it feels like at times. He doesn’t judge her for her money, doesn’t demand her to be someone she’s not, doesn’t ask her to do things she doesn’t want to. He’s the closest thing to a brother she’s ever had. Whitley has always hated her after all and Mercury, in exchange, hates Whitley.

“You need me, asshole,” She scowls at his language, but he only laughs at the look on her face. “You’re stuck with me. Deal with it, Princess.”

“Ugh, you are _so _childish.” She rolls her eyes and flops onto her back, the bear hugged close to her chest. She blinks when she sees his hand come into view and tug on its foot. “Are you taking this?”

“Shh, I have a reputation to keep,” she snorts, but lets him take the plush toy from her arms and pack it underneath clothing and dust rounds. The suitcase isn’t even half full and she feels a little bad for how much she has compared to him. “Go to bed. We leave early, don’t we?”

“Yea…” She couldn’t wait until they were _out _of this house. “Can’t I just sleep in here tonight? My bed’s too far.” He shrugs and flops down next to her after flicking the lights off in his room, her body bouncing on the bed softly from the added weight. She knows he won’t sleep tonight if she doesn’t. Nightmares plagued them both, but it was a little easier with someone you loved close by. She falls asleep to the soft sounds of his fingers tapping away on his scroll.

* * *

When they arrive at Beacon, she can’t help but to feel a little intimidated by the large castle-like school. It’s beautiful, but there’s so many people. She knows she doesn’t make friends easily and she knows that she’ll end making more enemies than she will friends. Mercury has always told her she’s got a difficult personality and she wishes she could deny it.

She doesn’t _mean _to be rude when some girl bumps into and knocks over all of her luggage, really, it’s just that she can’t help it. She _had _to be mean and pompous in her own home just to survive. It was natural to snap and demand respect.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” She demands from the girl, glaring down into silver eyes. She freezes when she notices that- it reminds her too much of that same look Mercury had in eyes when they first met for a moment.

“Weiss,” She hears his voice suddenly from behind her and whirls around, “chill out. Poor kid looks like you’re about to bite her head off.”

“But she-“ She’s cut off by the look on his face and falls silent. “… We’ll talk about this later.” She settles for, snatching the bottle of dust out of the girl’s hand, and storms away. She can’t hold her anger in for much longer and as much as she hates to admit it, Mercury is right. She probably does need to chill out, but she doesn’t want him to know that. He’d never shut up about it if she admits he’s right about anything. She doesn’t even turn around to see if Mercury is following her.

* * *

She finds Mercury again at the opening ceremony. He’s standing with that same girl from earlier and some blonde bimbo and she feels a little angry at that- but Mercury was always better at pretending to be someone he wasn’t than she was. He’s probably making friends just so he can scope out the competition. God, watching him pretend to be nice is painful.

“Mercury!” She calls out as she makes her way over, a scowl painted over her pretty face. He looks a little bit like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but he looks _far _from sorry with that smug expression on his face. She almost wants to start lecturing the girl again. A look from Mercury shuts that down as quickly as the thought formed though. “I’m…” She frowns. She doesn’t want to apologize. That would mean she was wrong. She can’t afford to be wrong. Being wrong always resulted in bad things. Bad things like Mercury losing his legs (even if she knows it wasn’t _her_ fault that he lost them).

“A bit of a bitch?” He supplies for her.

“Ugh,” She rolls her eyes, but there’s a small smile on her face. “I think that’s you.”

“I thought she was your friend?” She turns to look at the girl again. She looks too young to be here. She looks too innocent.

“Ehhh, more or less,” Mercury answers and Weiss slaps his arm with a glare.

“Excuse me, I’m your _only _friend.”

“No offense, but this is why _I’m_ your only friend.” She hears the blonde make an ‘oof’ sound behind them with a snicker.

“… I hate you.” She crosses her arms and cocks one hip, before she turns to listen to Ozpin as he starts to address the small crowd growing in the area. She finds his wording strange, but she also finds the speech to be rather inspiring. She wants to grow to be something good, something worth being proud of, and she knows she’s going to have a long road ahead of her to do that. After he’s done speaking and dismisses them to the cafeteria where they’ll be spending the night, she barely stops to listen to the little black haired girl.

“Can we start over? I’m Ruby!”

“… No.” She plainly and bluntly says. Mercury does follow her this time and she hears Ruby giggle at some face he makes at her. Ugh.

* * *

Neither she nor Mercury sleeps much that night. Her nerves are getting to her and she knows there’s too many people for Mercury to feel safe sleeping. He’s always been paranoid and she doesn’t know if that’s from Marcus’ abuse or Marcus’ training. She still manages to get at least a couple of hours of sleep though and she’s glad to have it when they’re told to gather on the hill overlooking the forest. They’ll be grouped into teams now and she hates the idea of not being on one with Mercury.

It rings inside of her head when she learns how they’ll be partnered. The first person she makes eye contact with. It’s scary- she doesn’t know if she could trust anyone other than Mercury that’s here. He’s her best friend and protector. Everyone else is an enemy until proven otherwise.

When she lands, she has to take a deep breath to compose herself, closing her eyes to steady herself. “Okay, okay… just find Merc. That’s easy enough.” Except that it’s really not. He’s a trained assassin. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. She’d have to let him come find her and she knows that he will, eventually. She just isn’t sure how long that would be.

“Heya, Princess,” She lets out a rather unbecoming scream when she hears a voice next to her ear and whips around. Mercury’s laughing face is the first thing she sees. “Oh my _Gods_, you should have seen your face!”

“Shut up!” She hisses, stamping her foot down. “How did you find me so quickly?”

“Just followed you on the way down,” Of course. She notices that his pants are somewhat ripped and stained with dirt and raises a brow. He probably couldn’t slow down enough momentum to avoid having a rough fall. She knows his legs can take a beating, but that doesn’t mean she feels less worried.

“Are your legs okay…?” She doesn’t want them to be damaged. They’d have to stop and fix them and there’s only two of them. It’d be hard to defend themselves. He nods his head though and then they set off to find the relics that Ozpin spoke about before launching them from the cliff side. Mercury, ever the resourceful bastard that he is, apparently knows where they’re going. He probably hacked into the school system to find maps of the forest. Illegal, maybe, but she doesn’t complain.

They make it to the clearing with very little problems and dispatching a pack of beowolves is easy with Mercury. He’s trained with her long enough that they both know each other’s fighting styles. She’s happy that she’ll at least have him on her team- someone competent and someone she doesn’t have to really speak to out loud to know what she wants to do.

“How about a queen for the Ice Queen?” He teases as he picks up the chess piece, turning it around in his hand and tossing it back and forth between hands. She rolls her eyes, but nods.

“Sure, I guess.” It’s not long before another team shows up and Weiss feels her breath leave her chest when she sets eyes on the tall, dark-haired girl with a pretty bow. Her eyes leave her paralyzed. Mercury, ever the unhelpful idiot he is, snickers off to the side and smacks her back to bring her back to reality. “_Mercury_!”

“That’s my name,” He’s fighting back more laughter and she knows he’s making fun of her in his head. “Y’all want the other queen?” He asks, looking over at the other two girls. Pyrrha, Weiss knows. Or, knows of, really.

“We’ll take her!” Her voice is pleasant and her green eyes are kind. Mercury tosses over the relic and Pyrrha catches it with ease. She doesn’t look as much like refined warrior as Weiss thought she should have, but she knows that looks can be deceiving. Mercury looks nothing like an assassin after all. Especially not with his flippant attitude. “We just have to get back to the school now, correct?”

“Uh-huh,” He confirms. “I’m assuming we’ll be a team- who are you guys?” ‘Assume’ means he _knows _they’ll be on a team together and Weiss is once again impressed by his illegal probing of information. He probably offered the queen to them because he knew that’s how teams were paired.

“I’m Pyrrha Nikos, it’s nice to meet you,” her smile is, for lack of a better word, adorable. It reminds her of a puppy.

“Blake Belladonna,” the other girl pipes up, a tiny smile gracing her lips and _Gods _Weiss is too gay for this. She feels her cheeks heat up as Mercury shoots her a smirk and she can’t contain the urge to stamp on his foot despite the fact that it won’t hurt him.

It’s a hard-won battle back to Beacon, but they make it and Mercury is right- the four of them are placed on a team together. Team SNBM with Weiss Schnee as their leader. She's proud to be the leader and she's relieved to know that her expectations of herself were not unfounded. Mercury though… she thinks that he’ll have trouble listening to anyone but himself. He doesn’t take orders. He doesn’t respect authority well. She _is _glad he’s not the leader though. As much as he can’t take orders, he can’t give them either. Team RRYN is formed next and Weiss takes note of Ruby and Yang on that team. She doesn’t recognize the other two on their team, but she does note down their names as well; Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

Their room is… cute, for lack of a better word. It’s much smaller than Weiss is used to and she’s not sure she’ll have enough space for all of her belongings. Mercury claims the bed closest to the door and adjacent from the one Weiss chose. She knows he does it on purpose- he’s still paranoid and he does have a right to be. He’s stopped more assassination plots on her life than she’d like to think about. She sets her bear on her bed, right in the middle of all her pillows, and smiles when she realizes that the only thing decorating Mercury’s entire part of the room is his bear.

“Oh, those are so cute!” She hears Pyrrha say, pointing at one of the bears. “I take it you two are close then?” She’s sitting on her own bed, on the other side of Mercury’s, with her feet gently swinging back and forth.

“Unfortunately. He’s a bit of a nuisance, though,” She snarks and Mercury only rolls his eyes with a shake of his head.

“Give her like, a week, and she’ll thaw out a little.” Her face settles into a scowl at him, but Pyrrha only giggles and nods.

“You two remind me of my brother and me. I miss him already,” She sighs. Blake has been quiet in all of this, laying on her bed with her nose in a book.

Despite all of the hatred and nagging and verbal abuse she’s had to go through to get here, Weiss finds that she’s actually happy with her team. That she’s actually happy with Beacon. She thinks that she could call this place home one day.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys liked this, I'm working on adding more short stories and things for this AU.
> 
> This is an AU I created with a good friend of mine through roleplay and I've always wanted to write for it!


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